This week, I visited the Nebraska State Fair in Grand Island. It’s an event I’ve loved since childhood for its 11 days of concerts, livestock shows, exhibits and food. It is truly the best of Nebraska.
No trip to the State Fair is complete without Nebraska beef, so one of my first stops had to be the Beef Pit. There, I caught up with fairgoers and members of the Nebraska Cattlemen over lunch. I enjoyed a new addition to their menu — a delicious burnt end sandwich.
I also enjoyed seeing the new babies in the Birthing Pavilion and participated in a milking parlor demonstration with Senator Ricketts and U.S. Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins.
Afterwards, we headed to the pig barn for Senator Ricketts’ Federal Issues Forum. Secretary Rollins participated as well — I was pleased to have her in Nebraska once again to hear directly from our state’s ag producers. I appreciated this timely opportunity to speak about the challenges facing our farm economy.
Our producers are rightfully concerned about the recent announcement about importing foreign beef. This is a topic I’ve heard much about from ranchers and producers across the state this summer. We need long-term solutions to rising beef prices at the grocery store. We must grow our nation’s cattle herd to meet demand. And we owe it to American producers to enact policies promoting certainty, stability, and markets to sell their products. As a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, I also wanted to update the crowd on the latest status of the Farm Bill. In Washington, I’ve been pushing a bipartisan Farm Bill that actually serves rural America. That includes permanent year-round E15 for our biofuels industry and my Precision Ag Package, both of which I fought hard to include in this bill.
Democrats voted against advancing it, but I’m not giving up. We must get the Farm Bill passed.
I also acknowledged how this year has tested our state in painful ways. The wildfires that tore through Nebraska this spring were the worst in our history, burning more than 800,000 acres. After touring much of the damage and meeting with first responders and producers who lost so much, I wanted to push even harder for my legislative solution to make recovering miles of fencing and grazing land less burdensome.
So, when I returned to Washington after seeing the devastation, I immediately asked the Senate to pass my Emergency Conservation Program Improvement Act, legislation that speeds up federal cost-sharing after disasters and gives producers more flexibility as they rebuild. I’m proud it passed unanimously and is now law. It won’t fix everything, but it means farmers and ranchers — in Nebraska and beyond — have a little more stability when disaster strikes.
After talking ag policy, I stopped by the Veterans of Foreign Wars and Nebraska State Patrol booths to thank our veterans and law enforcement officers for their service. Then it was time for ice cream — a favorite fair treat on a very hot day.
But what I appreciate most about the State Fair is running into old friends and meeting new ones. That’s what this tradition does best: bringing Nebraskans together. I was grateful to be a part of it again this summer.
Thank you for participating in the democratic process. I look forward to visiting with you again next week.
